GENEVA: The UN on Monday more than doubled its aid appeal to assist nearly two million people expected to flee conflict-torn Sudan by the end of this year amid soaring needs.
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said it and partners were appealing for $1 billion “to provide essential aid and protection to over 1.8 million people expected to arrive in five neighboring countries by the end of 2023, fleeing ongoing conflict in Sudan.”
“This is a two-fold increase of what was initially estimated in May to be required to respond to the crisis, as displacement and needs continue to soar,” UNHCR said in a statement.
The agency had initially appealed for $445 million for the regional refugee response this year, and already hiked the estimate twice prior to Monday’s announcement.
Since war began between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on April 15, around 5,000 people have been killed, according to conservative estimates from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project.
The violence has spurred a massive exodus.
Less than five months into the crisis, more than one million refugees, returnees and third country nationals had fled Sudan, often into dire situations in neighboring countries.
“Those arriving in remote border areas find themselves in desperate circumstances due to inadequate services, poor infrastructure and limited access,” the UNHCR regional refugee coordinator for the Sudan situation Mamadou Dian Balde said in the statement.
“Partners active in this response are making every effort to support those who are arriving and their hosts, but without enough donor resources, these efforts will be severely curtailed.”
UNHCR said that so far, only 19 percent of the $1 billion appealed for had been received, as humanitarians scramble to provide refugees critical necessities like water, food and shelter.
The dire health situation among new arrivals required particularly urgent attention, it said, pointing to high malnutrition rates and outbreaks of diseases like cholera and measles.
“It is deeply distressing to receive reports of children dying from diseases that are entirely preventable, should partners have had sufficient resources,” Balde said.
UNHCR said countries receiving refugees — Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan — were already hosting hundreds of thousands of displaced people before this crisis.
“Countries in the region are facing major challenges of their own,” Balde said, insisting that “we cannot take their hospitality for granted.”
“The international community needs to stand in solidarity with host governments and communities and address the persistent underfunding of humanitarian operations.”
UN says $1b for Sudan refugees amid soaring needs
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UN says $1b for Sudan refugees amid soaring needs
- “This is a two-fold increase of what was initially estimated in May to be required to respond to the crisis, as displacement and needs continue to soar,” UNHCR said
First responders enter devastated Aleppo neighborhood after days of deadly fighting
- The US-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Daesh group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria’s national army
ALEPPO, Syria: First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.
The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.
The US-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Daesh group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria’s national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”
The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.
Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid Al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.
The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.
On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.
Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.
“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”
Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.
Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.
“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.
